Inferno
by Tusk Act IV
Summary: [Post-manga]Katsuragi Keima thought he was done with deals with devils. Now thanks to a certain devil's deal, he has to deal with even more devils. A whole facility in fact.


**Disclaimer: I own neither the characters nor the setting**

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Keima Katuragi

The Capturing God.

A gamer who has supposedly captured over a thousand heroines over hundreds of games. These games could contain two or three or ten or fifty heroines. The girls could range from blonds to brunettes, tsunderes to danderes, nee-sans to imoutos; The number didn't matter, the personality didn't matter. If they were a heroine, if they had a route, he would find it and "capture" them.

He not only had quantity but also speed, finishing games aster than anyone else could. For a brief moment, people had thought he had slowed down or even vanished after a year of slow updates but soon he came back even faster and more thorugh than ever.

If one were to ask Keima Katsuragi, the Capturing God, what kind of heroines annoyed him the most though he'd reply simply side-characters. Not only side-characters but those he'd call fandisc bait.

What were fandisc bait? These were characters that had their own CG, portraits, voices, etc. and yet couldn't be captured but were there clearly for the company to have an excuse to sell to the fans, a not really-a-sequel sort of game that would often contain routes for these fandisc bait or after routes for the heroines.

They came in two kinds. The first were side characters who didn't have routes but played semi-prominent roles in the game then became popular with the fans. These could be the teacher of a class, or a relative or, more likely, the female best friends of a heroine.

These annoyed him as they were the ones who had enough design and quirks to have a route yet didn't. The only reasons was for Greed (to sell a fandisc) or laziness (that they didn't want to make one). For him, if a girl was in a game and that they had enough intent to give her a portrait, voice, and a name, then there should be no reason not to give her a route as well. It would only be due to fan demand that they'd get one even.

On an unrelated note, he would definitely deny that this annoyance in not being able to capture them was in any way related to a certain runner's side character-like best friend still not going along with his plans. Really. It was just his pride as a Capturing God not being able to capture a girl that was right there. He swears!

The second type of fandisc bait were what he found the most annoying.

These were the the obvious ones. They were the heroines who clearly were supposed to have routes but due to production reasons had their routes cut. They would have clear flags for events pop up and possibly even choices and CGs and yet they wouldn't have an Keima, this was a clear insult to not just him as a player who wanted to capture all heroines but to the heroine herself who was denied an ending unlike the first type who never had one in the first place. It annoyed him to no end when a girl would just disappear mid-route or even worse where their route would be merged with another girl's route which just show either heroine disrespect.

Then the developers would just finish her route in a fandisc and sell that. Or worse a full priced sequel where she'd be the sole heroine and sideline hard the other girls. At least fandiscs weren't sold at full price.

"..really, those sorts of girls are the most annoying to deal with. Why can't they just be satisfied with staying as side characters and not take up a whole game for themselves. It just annoys the fans of the other girls as if they were lesser than the this "main heroine". She'd even have obvious plot threads linked to her that either hint to a sequel or are jsut dropped because the scenario writer didn't want to deal with them."

"...Katsuragi, I have no idea what you are talking about but I'm guessing you are annoyed by the current situation?"

"I am annoyed! I thought I could finally put my all into gaming after I graduated yet I get roped into a loose plot string!. I thought if I ignored it maybe it wouldn't matter at all but as usual, Reality proves to be the shittiest game yet!"

Keima Katsuragi huffed and puffed. His anger translated to more furious tapping than usual on his trusty portable gaming device. Of course even now he was still playing games.

"...If you really feel so against the idea, then I will still let you back out."

The Capturing God sighed and readjusted his glasses. "No, it's fine. This event seemed inevitable and should be finished as fast as possible. To think there would still be an event like this after the ending."

It was an old habit, but he reached to his neck to fiddle with a collar that once wrapped around it. Instead of the air he had gotten used to the past few years, a spiked choker was felt.

"I wouldn't advice fiddling around too much with the collar. After all, that links you to me. I can not come to your aid if you are attacked and the spell is compromised."

"You're really sounding too much like Yui, Akari. I had thought you assured the goddesses that this facility was safe."

"Yes, however, one can not be too careful. At the moment, you are more dangerous than any other magical weapon. If you were to be injured, the possibility of New Hell incurring the wrath of the goddesses is a dangerous thing. This is a task only you who had found the goddesses can do. Besides-"

They both stopped at a set of tall imposing golden doors that were three times Keima's height. The girl Keima knew as Kurokawa Akari looked up to him. Although it had been a few years, she still looked the same to Keima. Her clothes were cleaner, her hat was missing displaying pigtails but that same expressionless face still stared at him blankly.

No, he was wrong. There was something different. Instead of a deep empty void of purple, there was _something_ in her eyes that actually made Keima stop playing his game in surprise.

"- I too want to make sure you are safe."

Before Keima could react, she turned away and pointed her Scythe of Heritage to the large doors in front of them. The Scythe glowed purple and the doors swung open.

Inside was something that could only have been from a game. A giant body that was over twenty meters stood upright. It's face was ugly yet fiercejust like those found on Oni mask with large fangs emerging from the bottom of its mouth and a small horn on the center of its forehead. A red hat crowned a head of long white hair. It wore only a robe that covered fiery red skin. A hand that could easiy squeeze Keima's whole body held a large wooden cane.

It was like the old Enma Daio described in Japanese Folktale.

It turned to the two at the entrance and immediately recognition and delight filled the demon's eyes. It moved to them using its cane with steps that rumbled the ground.

With a great deep rumbling voice, it spoke.

"Rimyuel? Rimyuel is that you?" The figure moved closer and Keima had to look turn his head all the way up just to see the large demon's face. "My daughter it has been so long since you had last visited! I shall call the others to greet you on your visit. I"m sure they will be excited"

The demon lifted the cane and pounded the floor which made a noise so loud that the air pressure almost knocked Keima off his feet. Before he could regain his bearings, another louder sound hit his ears.

Suddenly, a huge number of girls gathered from within the building. Girls of varied looks and ages stampeded to the sound of their summon to the front of the hallway. Keima wasn't sure how many there were but it easily reached the hundreds.

And with them came the high pitched excited chatter of hundreds and hundreds of tiny new devils.

"It's Nee-sama!" "Rimyuel-Sama's here!" "I want to see Nee-sama" "Nee-sama's here?!" "Nee-sama!" "Rimyuel-sama!" "Nee-sama's visiting!" "Nee-sama, Nee-sama!" "Where's Nee-sama?" "Let's go! Let's go see her!" "Is that a man?!" "Why is a man here?" "Is he with Nee-sama?" "I've never seen a man before!"

The sound of what Keima could only describe as a tsunami of Elsies would haunt his dreams for his remaining years.

After a deep cough from the large demon, the chatter immediately stopped and only a sea of eyes that shone with curiosity and excitement looked on at them silently.

It was also the same time the giant seemed to have noticed him. Sharp eyes scrutinized him like large spotlights. "Hmm? Who is that Rimyuel? A lost soul that needs punishment?"

For Katsuragi Keima, first impressions were always important.

In games, this was through their cover. A cover would always show the most important part of the game, the heroines. Whatever the genre it was, the heroines would always be at the front. This was to make an immediate impression on the player of why they were playing this game.

Girls who wouldn't be on the cover didn't have that same privilege. The girls who were had minor routes or were fandisc bait wouldn't be on the cover. They wouldn't be a reason for why the player bought the game and had to rely solely on how the game introduced them.

Keima's first impression of Kurokawa Akari wasn't exactly a positive one. He had thought she was a simple heroine. The typical pseudo-philosophical emotionless type that could be taken down with one stroke after showing her what love was. She then surprised him by not falling for his tricks whatsoever and reversed his plans in one swoop by grabbing his head and kissing him.

Much like what she just did now.

He was much taller than before, nonetheless, she effortlessly reached up for his collar and pull him down to capture his lips just like before even if she had to tiptoe to do so. A small part of his mind noticed that she still tasted like motor oil with a small hint of strawberry.

Not a sound was made as they clashed lips.

It lasted for five seconds before Akari seperated and let go of his shirt's collar. The sudden shift in balance caused Keima to fall to the ground.

Unpeturbed, Rimyuel Irma turned to her family with her usual expressionless face.

"This person is Katsuragi Keima. Starting today, he will be acting as my fiance. Treat him well."

"EEEHHH!?"

That day, New Hell shook.

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While girls who were side character disc bait would annoy Keima, the Capturing God could be equally annoyed by the "true route heroine".

They could easily be confused with the second type of fandisc bait but unlike those whose endings were taken away, they had an ending. However this ending was only possible if all other heroine routes were completed. If the player tried to capture her early, their route would end unexpectedly or would divert to another girl's route. It was only after every route was cleared that the true route would appear.

Keima found it especially bothersome when he'd think a heroine's route would be finished and he could move on but then he didn't actually capture her and so had to do it again only after what he'd think would be the end of a game.

However, no matter how annoying he'd find a heroine or how bothersome he'd find the way to her route, it was just a matter of fact that he'd still put all his effort into capturing her.

After all, he was the Capturing God.

And if a heroine needed help, he'd do it.

Even if he'd have to go through hell itself.

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 **AN: The kinds of girls I mentioned in this fic aren't just meant to be parallels to two certain TWGOK heroines, those kinds do exist. For the first type of bait, just look at all the fandiscs Majikoi has. For the second, Ilya of F/SN had her route scrapped and mixed in with Sakura's. Never got a fandisc but she got an anime, I guess? Kinda spoilerish but Muvluv's Sumika had the whole sequel be her route. Lastly the "true heroine" route is pretty common to find in Key games.**

 **This was what I originally wanted to do but it was supposed to be at a ball and I had a whole spiel on "parties" in games. I guess you could call my two fics the "fandiscs" to the game of Kaminomi. One is for the side heroines that didn't get a real route while the other are after stories for the original featured routes.**

 **Do their titles imply something? I wonder.**


End file.
